Chapter 170 - Origin of Sins (2/2)
Period of next life = 10 + (Fate/Species)
”For example, Soul 1 in his first life as a spirit accumulated a total of 3 actual sins, 500 false sins, 9 actual virtues and 20 false virtues before it gets sent to the after life. According to the formula, the species reincarnation should be +6 which means the spirit will get reincarnated into a species of a higher plane. A general guideline would be this...”
0 total for Tier 2 (Energy Plane)
+/- 100 total for Tier 3 (Abyss & Purgatory Plane)
+/- 250 total for Tier 4 (Material Plane)
+/- 500 and above for Tier 5 (Enlightened Plane)
”What about Tier 6?”
Enma smiled. ”The Divine Plane is for those born into it. Nobody soul created by the world can enter the divine plane. In a way, all Demon Lords are Tier 6 souls. They were born with sins, just like how Gods were born with virtues. It's also the reason why there is only one Divine Being in charge of one domain. You don't see two Divine Beings handling the same Entity now, do you?”
Zero thought about it. ”What about Baal and Duu? They're both Divine Beings lording over the same domain.”
Enma shook his head. ”Duu is a Divine Entity, not a Divine Being. He is a portion of the Great One. His existence does not disrupt the balance in the cycle of life. In fact, Duu is capable of creating and destroying that equation if he wants to. He's just not interested in doing so. On the other hand, you have Divine Entities like Venn and Kale who are known for accidentally destroying a world and throwing a plane into the void. There are also Entities like Nel who creates new worlds that nobody discovers until a few millenniums later. However, the most mysterious Divine force is the nameless God that humans of the previous Earth created. We don't know anything about them.”
”Right... so it's a lot of calculation to pass judgement for a soul... won't one plane be over populated if everyone keeps accumulating points?”
Enma laughed. ”That's the thing... not everybody accumulates points that goes upwards. Many fluctuate. Let's take Qin Yun for example. Every life is different. She started out as a good snow fox spirit who led a peaceful life. However, she met a human and fell in love. Her decision to want to be with him made her cultivate and perform good deeds to accumulate both actual and false virtue so that she could become a human and accompany him. However, before she managed to complete accumulating those points, her lover was killed. She became a vengeful spirit who killed humans indiscriminately. Her actual sin points increased tremendously, undoing all the accumulated virtues she collected. Eventually, she was subdued by Nezha, a God passing by and sent for judgement. As Qin Yun was the mother of all fox spirits, she was too powerful to send for reincarnation. hence her journey of redemption began. She was turned into a demon and banished from the Energy Plane. Now that all her sins were written off, Qin Yun can now move out from the Abyss Plane to the Material Plane with her accumulated false virtues.”
”Does that mean all demons in the Abyss had committed some kind of wrongs in their previous lives?”
Enma didn't know if he should explain it further. Not all demons in the abyss were sinners. In fact, the line between Heaven and Hell was very fine. ”Zero, do you know about the Great War between heaven and Hell and why the Abyss exists?”
The apprentice tried to recall. ”I've heard stories about it but I don't know the details,” he admitted.
”There are two kinds of demons. The first kind is the ones who've accumulated too many sins. They are sent here to be punished by the different Demon Lords according to the sins accumulated. These demons are often the weaker demons you see scrapping by trying to make a living. The second kind of demons is aristocratic or demons with no origin. They are souls who have graduated from the Energy Plane and wish to move to a higher plane indefinitely. The difference between the Abyss and the Purgatory lies in soul advancement. All the souls working in the Purgatory will not be able to progress further and have to undergo a reincarnation before they can move on to a different plane. These souls find peace in working a routine job to maintain the cycle of life. On the other hand, you have spirits who didn't manage to accumulate enough points to enter the material realm before they were sent to the Purgatory. That's where these new souls make their decisions to climb their way out through the Abyss. For aristocratic demons, they once belonged to Tier 5, the Enlightened Plane. However, not all souls agree with the way Heaven does things. There is more freedom in the Abyss and that is why Hell is such a diverse place.”
Schaf had to be a soul that had sins to pay off. He wasn't an aristocratic demon and neither was he a demon with no origin. ”Does that mean Schaf would only be able to move on from the Abyss if he accumulated enough points in the negative range to be sent to the Material Plane?”
Enma nodded lightly. ”As terrible as it sounded, he would have made it if you hadn't interfered. Now that you are writing his sins off, Schaf doesn't have enough points to be in the Material Plane. Banishment from the Abyss without sufficient points can only mean Schaf will now be taken care of by the Purgatory. It would be many years of hard labour before he can move to the Material Plane. I'm making an exception for this soul on your request.”
Zero felt bad. He hadn't meant to trouble Enma so much with his selfish request. King Yama noticed it and flicked Zero on the forehead lightly.
”Don't worry about it. We have many special cases from time to time. Sage Gods are one such case. Not everyone who can make it into the Enlightened Plane can become a Sage God. They have to be souls who met the basic point requirements and have contributed to a world-changing phenomenon. They will go through interviews with the Great Gods before Heaven helps to register their unique domain. Most souls who enter the Enlightened Plane become office angels, Nirvana researches or aristocratic demons who continue to involve themselves in the Material Plane for fun.”
”Sage Gods are special?”
Enma deadpanned. What kind of question was that?
”I never thought that my master would be such an amazing person... Who knew that someone who didn't know the beauty of magic and technology would be such an amazing individual. Say, do you know how Hua Tuo became a Sage God? What did he do to become the God of Medicine?”
Enma fell speechless. For someone who was learning from the best doctor in existence, did Zero really not know the answer?
”Has your teacher not taught you acupuncture or surgery?”
Zero shook his head. ”Only medicine and basic healing magic so far.”
King Yama smiled mysteriously. ”Oh, you'll find out the answer to your question soon. When it comes to inventing ways for saving lives without divine powers, Hua Tuo is the only person in any world to be able to accomplish that. Call him old-fashioned if you may. However, he has proven time and again that miracles can be created. There are many things that you do not know about your teacher yet and as a friend, I'd advise you to look more closely at the way your teacher does things more than what he does.”
Zero didn't know what that meant but filed Enma's words away at the back of his mind. They moved the conversation away from the topic and chatted about what Enma thought was interesting about what they saw in the market. The parfaits came and Zero ordered for more desserts, much to Enma's amusement. Who knew that Zero's love for desserts wouldn't disappear with age?